Brave Creatures

Much excitement around my personal and professional campfire. My producing lecturer from the VCA, and now friend, Ros Walker is circling ever nearer to getting her feature film up at last. At least according to Hollywood reporter.

Ros is characteristically playing her cards close to her chest on this, but I am hopeful for her because:

a/ its a really great story, b/ she really deserves it and c/ its a REALLY great story.

Here is the quote from aap wire.

Mendelsohn, Colosimo star in new movie
Friday May 26 06:16 AEST
Ben Mendelsohn and Vince Colosimo will star opposite Spanish actor Elena Anaya in outback drama The Floating World.

Industry press at the Cannes International Film Festival reported John Winter would write and direct the film which is being sold at the festival trade fair.

The Hollywood Reporter described the film as a "haunting and at times disturbing journey".

Anaya, who has starred in such films as Sex and Lucia and Van Helsing, will play an inconsolable Spanish widow who sets up house in the Australian bush at a truck stop where she exchanges sexual favours for food.

The Floating World is being produced by Roslyn Walker of Walker Films and John Winter through his company Wintertime Films.

Palace Film will distribute The Floating World in Australia and New Zealand.

©AAP 2006

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Mixed into the regular things I think about; hair, food, shoes, food, dancing and food; there is the occasional deeper topic like climate change and evolutionary biology. I also occasionally think about the nature of human relationships.

Over the weekend I was thinking about the notion of there being one person for you in life, one perfect partner. Its a nice idea, but I have to admit that it doesn't seem very realistic. Except in hindsight. Looking back over a lifetime with a partner its easy to say "they were the one" but at the start of a relationship is it really that possible to judge. And is someone being "the one" a product of our intrinsic natures, or is it a product of two people being prepared to work together?

Now I will admit right now that I am HUGELY romantic, but even given that my sense is that a successful relationship comes out of being prepared to work together, talk through you differences and make a long term commitment to being together. In this I feel like I am dreadfully 1950's in my approach, but I can't see the point in forever looking over my shoulder to see if there is someone better waiting in the wings. For me there is a huge value to shared experience.

This was really highlighted for me in a recent meeting with my ex, Steve. After 9 years apart, with very little contact, there was a sense of connection that was impossible for either of us to ignore or deny. I am not saying that we were about to leap across the table and have at it there and then. Neither of us is interested in getting back together. It was more the sense of something shared, something deeper and more profound, that made the conversation something other than just a chat.

There is another end to the spectrum, the current relativistic notion that relationships last until some lesson is learnt and then we move on. This feels to me like a cop out, a way to wiggle out when the going gets tough, a way to shrug off our responsibilities to each other, and ourselves. But if you abandon someone when they need you, how can you expect to be supported in your own time of need? And arnt relationships about support as much as they are about having a good time?

Don't get me wrong, I want my relationships to be characterised by laughter and fun, but the truth is that life is not all good times. There are troubles to be faced and if you cant face them with the support of your partner, what use are they?

My feeling is that there isn't a "one" out there for me, any partnership that I have will be built out of mutual respect and commitment, out of a choice to make each other the one.

In the end, for me, it is these choices that define who we are.

So who are you? 

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well-booked adj. Having access to a substantial number or a wide variety of books.

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It's been a long time since I listened to an album so consistently from end to end, but the new offering from P!nk certainly has my attention. I have loved P!nk since her debut as a sassy, sneering pop tartlet with the track "There you go", a track with pop styling and a biting edge, a track that said "watch this one".

Over the years she has continued to show her bite, but with this new album she is growing some significant political and social claws, wrapped up in well crafted styling, with enough LA grunge to cut the sugary pop sweetness. Pink seems well on her way to becoming the Diet Coke, the Coke Zero of the pop world. Just like pop music only MUCH better for you.

The first single from the album, Stupid Girls, not only got my attention but had me up out of my seat cheering. Camp and refreshing its a smart girls reality check on the brain drain being exerted by the Paris Hilton's of the world. The video clip is a laugh riot and comes on the CD - thankfully.

The album is clearly a personal work for Pink and it rolls through a range of emotions and styles that is startling. From the  surprising mix of rock licks and cowbells in "U + Ur Hand" to the melancholy "Nobody Knows" and back up to a biting commentary on Bush's presidency with "Dear Mr. President" this album is full of movement and emotion.

But don't just trust me, give it whirl. I don't think you will be disappointed.

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"Adam and Andy" is one of my favourite comics. Its not particularly complex, but there is something charming and delightful about it. This is one of my favorite strips. There are some people in the world, and I am not mentioning any names here, find washing machines to be mesmerising and semi-erotic. Strange but true. Charming, strange and true.

Makes me smile. 

There will be more to come in the next few weeks.

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< ?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?> < !DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"> e-thrombosis n. The formation of blood clots caused by sitting at a computer for prolonged periods. Also: eThrombosis.

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Dear oh me.

It was a friends birthday this week and a movie was the appropriate thing to do, so as it was the opening day for the Da Vinci Code, we went Gold Class.

Now let me tell you that the newly revamped Gold Class at the Jam Factory here in Melbourne is very glam, and worth the trip. The food is WAY too expensive for what it is, but a charming bottle of bubbles fixed that right up. Or at least dulled the pain.

Another result is my usual incisive film review may be a little wobbly today.

The only way you could have avoided knowing something of the Da Vinci Code is to have hidden under a rock. Dan Browns novel has stirred up HUGE amounts of media attention, and the marketing folks have jumped on that controversy band wagon for the movie. Between the failed law suit by the authors of Holy Blood, Holy Grail, and every Christian sect and its dog needing to make comment, its been a bonanza of free media.

Personally I don't see it. the book wasn't THAT good. I guess people just love a conspiracy.

The film of the book is also OK. Nicely shot. Well directed and workman like acting from all of the cast. Tom Hanks is a little wooden as Langdon (but then Langdon is wooden),  Jean Reno a little caricatured as the french cop Fache and Ian McKellen pretty much phones it in as Teabing. Its nice to see Audrey Tautou again, and in a role so different to Amélie, but the film doesn't ask much of her.

Clearly a lot of money was spent on the film. It looks beautiful, although I cant say I got anything extra from the cinematography or the production design. They really just supported the main story without giving much additional depth to it.

Missing for me was the feeling of an almost all powerful 2000 year old conspiracy, that would stop at nothing. The plot really seemed confined to the limits of what was on screen. This is almost the complete opposite of the film V for Vendetta which clearly has too much outside the realms of the screen.

Or maybe I am a cranky bastard who is never happy. Thats been suggested before. 

The film doesn't stray from the book, so don't expect surprises. A few minor details are skimmed, but I get the feeling the book was written with a screen play in mind, so there was not much needed to be removed.

All up, you are not going to miss anything if this one gets saved for a DVD night at home, but if  you feel the need to join in the "experience", or want a low mental engagement date movie (so you can concentrate on the groping) then pop a long to the cinema. For me, the bottle of bubbles was what made the day.

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As promised, here in one of my favourite Adam and Andy comics.

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dog whisperer n. A person who has, or claims to have, a natural ability to relate to or connect with dogs.

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Meh.

What can I say abnout MI3 - Explosions, base jumping and insane rock climbing maneuvers, Tom Cruise looking tense and "cool" (ruined by him running like a spaz). All pretty standard.

I am not going into detail on this one.  

Basically unless you are a big fan of this sort of movie, save it for a DVD night at home, and at that the second dvd you get in case you need a spare.

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